Royal Dilema
by Eltavor
Summary: BEING REVISEDbecause the beginning sucked Legolas has a secret that has been kept for over 2000 years, what will happen when members of the Fellowship discover it...AU


Royal Dilema

Chapter 1 – A Beginning

_Question #1: What to do with unruly elflings. _"No, that's not it."

_Question #14: How to handle uninformed jealous rivals. _"That might come in handy, but not what I'm looking for."

_Question #37: How to come out from under an overbearing parent. _"Ahh, that's it."

_Step 1: Understand that overbearing parents do it out of a fear of losing you._

_Step 2: Look beyond the overbearing behavior to find out the root fear of the behavior._

_Step 3: Over time dispel that fear through actions._

_Step 4: Confront overbearing parent explaining how they don't have to fear anymore._

_Step 5: If the confrontation doesn't go well, go to other parent explain situation and ask for aid._

_Step 6: Create a situation where you can prove your ability to protect yourself against whatever the parent fears._

_Step 7: If that doesn't work thumb your nose at them and say 'TOUGH FOR YOU!'_

_These steps have proven to be quite effective in overcoming the fears of a parent and if the situation calls for Step 7 the overbearing parent usually gives in after a few years of sulking and sees that their child has grown up. The only problem is that sometimes the overbearing parent will believe they are in the right and totally disconnect the child. DO NOT do Step 7 if you believe your overbearing parent will cut you off. Instead really work with both parents to work out an alternative to be overprotected. _

"What are you looking at?"

Legolas startled so badly he fell out of the chair in an ungraceful heap on the floor. His mahogany colored hair was a mess when he lifted his head up to look at the person, with his shockingly bright emerald green eyes, who startled him. "Arwen! Why did you have to startle me like that?"

"Well how else was going to get your attention," said Arwen indignantly while peering at what Legolas had been reading. Reading allowed, "_Hard Questions with Complicated Solutions_……interesting choice of reading Legolas, but might I suggest a book with a more uplifting premise?" Even as Arwen was about to give an example Legolas spoke his answer.

"No. This book has some very useful information," Legolas said as rudely as he could so that Arwen would just go away.

Arwen, completely ignoring Legolas' subtle plea for her to leave, sat down and changed the subject of conversation. "So how did you ever convince your father to let you come to Imladris? I know that last time I was in Mirkwood he said that you wouldn't be leaving the realm for many years due to the danger, and now with the Ring of Power surfacing and the Ringwraiths near Imladris you are allowed to carry a message from your father?" Arwen's disbelief was obvious to anyone in the room, which was only Legolas.

Picking himself up off the floor and the taking a seat in the chair across from Arwen he went on to explain how he threatened to start going on patrols that were going near Dol Guldor to scout out enemy movements. Needless to say King Thranduil was NOT happy with that threat especially since he knew that Legolas would follow through. Like father like son. In the end Thranduil decided that taking a message to Imladris would be less risky then letting his son go on patrols that count the enemy's movements in one of their strongholds. Since Legolas didn't want to talk about his life the whole time he asked Arwen what she had been up to in the last 20 years. They needed to meet more often because only seeing each other once every 20 yrs or so was not enough time to really get some good talking in.

The discussions about their separate lives lasted well into the night and since they were talking in the deserted library that didn't have any windows they didn't notice the time. What knocked them out of their discussion was the arrival of Lord Elrond and Chief Advisor Erestor who were discussing the schedule for the day ahead of them. Naturally two young and somewhat mischievous elves (they did prank elves throughout Imladris for years with everyone blaming it on the twins) decided they just had to eavesdrop on the conversation especially when it turned to Elrond's children, after it got off the topic of the council that was going on that morning.

"Erestor, really this has got to stop. I can't have my daughter giving up her immortality for Estel. I know I raised Estel like a son, but I didn't want him to separate my only daughter from us for the rest of eternity. Why can't she just marry an elf, any elf and I would be happy? As long as the suitor doesn't force her to give up her immortality I don't care who she ends up with. I would even accept Legolas as a son-in-law if he actually asked Arwen, but he always seems to only be her friend and never anything more," Elrond said out of frustration over his powerlessness in his daughter's situation. It didn't help matters that he was thousands of years old, bore an elven ring of power, and raised two obnoxious twin sons. _You would think that my daughter, who was very good natured except for the times that the wicked streak showed, would be easier to deal with than the utter exhaustion from raising Elladan and Elrohir. I wish Celebrian were here……_Elrond's thoughts trailed off when Erestor started replying, or at least trying to, to his questions.

"Elrond, Arwen told you that she wouldn't marry an elf unless he was her soul mate and she has not felt that with anyone she has so far met. But she did say that she loves Estel and believes that he is her soul mate. There was a time that I asked her why her and Legolas weren't considering marriage and she just laughed at me," before Erestor could continue they heard a thump coming from the other side of the bookcase. Since the library was the small library, more of a comfortable sitting/reading room, all noise was amplified so one misstep would cause everyone in the library to know you're there. Elrond and Erestor peered around the corner of the bookcase and found Arwen and Legolas in a heap laughing so hard they were crying. This caused a lot of irritation on the two elf-lords' part not just that they were being laughed at, but because they didn't notice that there was someone eavesdropping on their conversation.

"And just WHAT is so funny?" Elrond asked with mock solemnity since he was trying not to look amused at the ungraceful heap Arwen and Legolas made on the floor.

The two now hiccupping elves saw Elrond's amusement and decided to be completely honest and see what Elrond would do and say. In unison they said, "The idea of marrying her." Arwen noticed her mistake and quickly added, "I mean him."

Elrond's amusement could no longer even be partially hidden, which incensed Arwen just a little bit causing her to say, "Well Legolas and I had best be off. We don't want to interrupt your work now would we? Oh, and Ada, you will not be able to talk, coerce or otherwise stop me from marrying Estel." With that Arwen dragged Legolas out of the room, not that Legolas noticed since he was still laughing hard.

On the way back to Legolas' rooms Legolas stopped laughing and sobered thinking about what was said in the library. "I wonder if my father will ever allow me to tell Lord Elrond about why I wouldn't marry you. I have lived with this edict he set upon me since birth. I rarely complained about it, but now I am getting lonely and depressed without having someone to share my life with. If you just look around, do you see anyone my age that isn't married yet? I mean my younger brother, Lomiran, is married and has a child. Lomiran! He likes to cook and knit, granted his wife is a warrior, but that doesn't mean I should have to live the rest of my days alone like my father seems to want. So many people have been wondering why I never married you. They think that because we are so close of friends that since we are male and female that we should marry. Then on top of that I have had a 'visitation' from your oh-so-wonderful fiancé that left me wondering how I would explain the situation to Aragorn…..." Legolas trailed off giving Arwen a chance to speak.

"Legolas, you can't always control your surroundings. You know that your father set down that edict for your own good. I know that throughout the years you have lived with it and have tried to be content. But, I believe that you now need to face your father and tell him that you would like to be able to go out as who you truly are. As Legolas Princ_ess_ of Mirkwood. I KNOW you want to go find your soul mate so you can marry and have a family, though any male elf you marry would probably try and force you to stay home and not go on patrols," Arwen paused and thought back to her years of friendship with Legolas and how over the years they had become to depend on each other because of their station of birth. Even though Legolas has had to act the male for her protection, they had been the best of friends and could talk about any type of problem with each other feminine or otherwise. Arwen shook her head to clear her thoughts, "Well, I best be going back to my room and prepare for the council. See you there," with that said Arwen left Legolas' room.

Legolas was sitting and brooding in her room thinking about the situation she was in about how her father had ordered her since birth to pretend to be male, not to act or let anyone know that she was in fact female. What was so ironic about her situation is that everyone in Mirkwood were always teasing her younger brother Lomiran about how he should be like his next older brother Legolas when it came to fighting. One thing that Legolas was glad about with her life is that she would never rule Mirkwood. She might be a 'Prince', but that is just because she is one of Thranduil's sons. Most often, because of not being the crown prince she and Lomiran would just be called sons of Thranduil.

As she was getting ready for the council, Legolas had this forboding that the council would not go as planned and that she would probably be roped into something that she and/or Thranduil would not approve of.

* * *

After the council---

Yes, she was right.

She is now going on the quest to destroy the Ring of Power.

_I should have just listened to my instincts and pleaded illness, but then I don't think Elrond would allow that. He seemed to have already decided on who would go on the quest, though there still are two spots open. I think the hobbit Sam surprised Lord Elrond by sneaking into the council without being invited or detected. I saw that Lord Glorfindel certainly looked put out, I think he was the one in charge of not allowing anyone not supposed to be there, in…………I best get some sleep. Tomorrow starts the preparations for the quest, though we won't be leaving for over a month._

With that Legolas laid and drifted into the realm of dreams, dreaming of her soul mate.

End Chapter 1

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A/N: Well this chapter is finally done. I hope those who were liking the story before like this intro better. I totally skipped the council because personally I don't want to write about and I don't think that many people want to read about it.

I will be updating when I can.

Please read and review.


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